A Treasure Beyond Price
by theicemenace
Summary: The first meeting of Alexis Castle and Phil Coulson. Prequel to A Stair of Swords.


**A/N:** Many thanks to ladygris for encouragement to write this story and for her Beta services.

Prospero Año y Felicidad,

~Sandy

"A friend who offers help without asking for explanations is a treasure beyond price."

~ Robert Heinlein

**Avengers**

**A Treasure Beyond Price**

**Several Years Ago**

Driving through the streets of Manhattan, Phil Coulson, not one to physically express his anger, slammed a hand against the steering wheel and uttered a word that most who knew him would be shocked to hear. That same hand tugged at the end of his bowtie leaving it hanging around his neck then opened the top button of his snow white shirt.

"I need a drink." He saw a sign up ahead, signaled and turned into the nearly full parking lot. A spot opened up before he could decide if he wanted to go elsewhere. Inside, he approached the counter, credit card in hand.

"What can I get you, sir?"

Normally, he'd just go for something simple, but tonight he wanted complicated. "I'll take the Grande cinnamon dolce latte, decaf, extra whipped cream and banana walnut bread."

Within two minutes, Phil was sipping his drink and looking for a place to sit. The only inside seat available was across from a very pretty and very young redhead. A thick textbook was under her right hand while she made notes with the left, stopping periodically to take a drink of iced tea. Now that that he had the hot coffee, Phil wished he had gotten a cold drink as well.

Carefully stepping over the sprawled legs of a twenty something guy furiously texting, Phil moved in front of the girl. "Excuse me."

She didn't look up and now that he was closer he spied an iPod trailing a pair of headphones that disappeared into her hair. Not wanting to scare her, he waved a hand to get her attention. She kept writing while taking the earphone out. "Yes?"

"Do you mind if I share your table?" When she hesitated, he added, "This isn't a pick-up. It's just that there aren't any other seats."

A sparkle of mischief came into her light blue eyes. "I'm not in the habit of letting strange men sit with me." She extended her hand. "Alexis."

Phil took her delicate looking hand in his finding her grip stronger than he thought, while balancing his coffee and snack. "Phil."

Once he was seated, he unfolded a napkin and draped it over his lap. Alexis wrapped the headphone wire around the iPod, shoving both into the side pocket of a backpack under her chair. He silently thanked her for being polite enough to do that. Most people these days would just go back to what they'd been doing. But he sensed in Alexis maturity and an intense curiosity, confirmed with her first question. "Bad date, huh?"

"What makes you think I've been on a date?"

One side of her mouth turned up in a half smile. "It's not even nine o'clock and you're in a tux. I would say that you've been to an upscale soirée, a celebrity's birthday party, a movie premier, or even the New York Philharmonic's annual fundraiser with your significant other." She tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. "No ring says she's not a wife or fiancée. You're here because the two of you broke up tonight after a short, heated argument about work. A combination of your job _and_ hers. Your schedules don't coincide often so you've been drifting apart for months, and each time you see each other, you have less and less to talk about. Now about _you_. I'd say mid to late forties, raised in Boston, but live in New York. Graduated from one of the Ivy League universities before taking a position with law enforcement. From there, you moved up the ladder by impressing your superiors with your vast skills and knowledge. At a guess, I'd say you speak at least four languages fluently. How'm I doing?"

Impressed, Phil saluted her with his cup. "You're good. Got almost everything."

She smiled her thanks. "My dad's a writer so I've picked up a thing or two. What did I get wrong?"

"Can't say," he told her with a wry grin. "She's a cellist with the Philharmonic. My job entails a great deal of traveling as does hers. Tonight, she told me that she's accepted a position with the Portland Symphony Orchestra."

"If you travel so much then why is it a problem that she's moving to another state?"

"It's not. The difficulty is with the confidential nature of _my_ job. She wanted to know what I do before deciding if we should move on to the next level in our relationship. I signed a non-disclosure agreement. Telling her what she wants to know would mean losing my job." Phil cut a piece of the cake and chewed it waiting for Alexis to pounce. He was further impressed when she didn't. "After such cryptic remarks, aren't you curious?"

She smiled again. "Very. But if it's so confidential that you and…"

"Olivia."

"…Olivia broke up over it I consider that need-to-know. And I don't need to know to be your friend," Alexis told him as she gathered up her school work. To go by the subject matter, she was also very intelligent. Something she'd already proven with her astute profiling of him. She cast a quick glance at his plate before taking a drink of tea.

Pushing back from the table, Phil went to the condiment counter, returning with another fork and napkin, passing both to her and turning the plate around so the untouched side faced her. "So we're friends now are we?"

She shrugged one slender shoulder while eyeing him. "Not yet. You don't know anything about _me_ except my name." Cutting a corner of the dessert, she speared it with the fork and popped it in her mouth.

"That sounds like a challenge." Phil leaned back in his chair, relaxing for the first time since his fight with Olivia during the intermission. "You just turned seventeen, are in high school and taking mostly AP courses in preparation for college. Though you haven't chosen a major yet, a recent change in your life has you leaning toward law enforcement and forensics. Your parents are divorced. Your mother is in the picture, but you live with your father. Your boyfriend attends college in another state, and while you miss him, you're now wondering if being in a long distance relationship is a good idea. You play the violin, are mature beyond your years and are very close to your grandmother. Oh, and your favorite food is ice cream."

As he talked, Alexis had tried to maintain an unreadable expression. But by the time he finished, she was staring at him slack-jawed. "So you know more than I thought." She finished off her drink and checked the time. Standing, she hung the backpack over her shoulder and pushed the chair in. "I have to get home. Dad doesn't like me walking after the dark."

Already on his feet, Phil finished off his coffee and gathered up their combined trash. "We're friends now, so I insist on walking you home."

"And leave your car here? No thanks. I'm good." She stuck out her hand. "It was interesting meeting you, Phil. Maybe we can do it again sometime."

"It would be my pleasure, Alexis."

Standing in front of the Java Loft, he watched the young girl walk away, cell phone in her left hand texting away. He trusted that she could make the journey on her own, but his sense of protectiveness dictated his next actions. When she'd gone about a block, Phil followed, keeping a good distance between them so he wouldn't be seen. As they reached the ten-block mark, Alexis fished a key out of her pocket and nodded to the doorman before disappearing into the building.

_Trust, but verify._ It was his motto. Soon he hoped that the two of them could earn each other's trust.

With her safely home, he could return home without worrying. Not that it was his place to be concerned over someone he just met. Something about Alexis made his instincts want to keep watch over her. His intuition told him that their meeting, though chance, had to have been fated even in the face of the fact that he believed in free will over predestination. _He_ chose to stop at this particular Java Loft over the hundreds of others in Manhattan. It was _his_ idea to approach Alexis and _his_ decision to see her safely out of harm's way. And now it would be his decision to return to his lonely apartment where he would change out of his tux and into shorts and a T-shirt, grab a beer from the 'fridge and watch something sports related on television.

Phil had just turned off Lola's engine and pocketed the keys when his cell phone rang. Getting a call this late on a Saturday night could only mean one thing. Holding onto his huff of annoyance, he said, "Coulson…yes, Director…in one hour? No problem, sir…No, of course I wasn't busy…Yes, sir."

He ended the call, shoved the phone into his breast pocket and took the stairs up to his floor, reflecting on the new alliance he forged tonight. All of his friends were in the same line of work as he so it was refreshing that she _wasn't_ with SHIELD or any other government agency. If she went into law enforcement there was a chance that they'd eventually end up working together. But until that day, he would take what he could get and not even consider that she was young enough to be the daughter he might've had if his life had gone according to plan.

Putting all of that aside, Phil quickly changed, returned to the parking garage and headed for the rendezvous point where a quinjet would be waiting.

Sometimes, like tonight, he wished his life could be different. And sometimes he found a treasure beyond price that made it all worthwhile.

**The Beginning**


End file.
